Seoul names 19 'medical-friendly' hotels for foreign patients
gettyimagesbank
Seoul has designated 19 hotels and accommodations as “medical-friendly” lodgings tailored for international patients and their families, part of an effort to capture a growing global market traveling to Korea for health care, the city government said Monday.
According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, about 1.76 million foreign patients were treated at medical institutions in Seoul in 2025, a record high. That is 3.7 times the roughly 470,000 in 2023. Seoul accounted for 87.2 percent of the roughly 2.01 million foreign patients treated nationwide last year.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Organization chose the 19 facilities from 40 applicants in the program’s first year. The selection involved document reviews, on-site inspections and expert evaluations.
Unlike regular tourists, foreign patients often need long stays that follow their treatment schedules, rooms for family members or caregivers, and places to recover after surgery or other procedures. Some have trouble getting around after treatment.
The facilities were judged on how easy it is to reach medical institutions from them, whether they allow long stays, whether they have amenities such as cooking and laundry facilities, and whether they can respond to emergencies around the clock.
The selected facilities include dedicated floors and lounges for medical tourists, free laundry service, pickup and drop-off service, and emergency guidance in several languages. The city said it chose lodging of different types and price levels across Seoul’s districts to give patients more choice.
The designation is valid for 2027. The city will promote the facilities in several languages on its official medical tourism website and share their details with partner hospitals and patient referral agencies. It will also train staff on how to handle foreign patients and emergencies.
“The competitiveness of medical tourism depends not only on excellent medical services but also on how comfortably and safely foreign patients and their families can stay before and after treatment,” said Cho Sung-ho, director general of the city’s tourism and sports bureau.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.